Firoz Koah, May 1 (IANS): Afghan counter-narcotics police destroyed a drug processing lab and arrested a person in Afghanistan's western Ghor province, said a statement of the Ministry for Interior Affairs released here.

Acting on a tip-off, the units of counter-narcotic police launched an operation in the Shahrak district on Saturday, discovered and destroyed a lab and arrested the person from the site, the statement added on Sunday.

The police forces also uncovered a huge quantity of materials used in manufacturing heroin, Xinhua news agency reported.

Afghan authorities have intensified their crackdown on illicit drugs and those involved in the underground business as security personnel arrested 13 alleged drug smugglers in Takhar, Farah, Ghor, Kapisa and Samangan provinces over the past couple of days.

In the fight against illicit drugs, the counter-narcotics police kicked off operations against poppy farms in the eastern Kapisa province on Saturday, and they were expected to destroy 160 hectare of poppy farms, provincial police said in a statement.

The supreme leader of the Afghan caretaker administration Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree on April 22 banning poppy cultivation and its processing. Since then, Afghan police have tightened the fight against illegal drugs.